Edna Karr's Darren Hulbert shoots against St. Thomas Moore at the Country Day Tournament at Country Day in Metairie Friday (Matthew Hinton, The Times-Picayune)

Karr Coach Taurus Howard said that he was proud of how his team fought until the end, but that it just wasn’t enough on Friday night.

After trailing by six with less than 20 seconds to play, Karr had a chance to tie at the end but Darius Dannel’s last second shot hit the underside of the backboard and St. Thomas More went on to a 60-58 victory in the semifinals of the Country Day Classic.

Karr trailed 59-53 after two Trey Touchet free throws with 28.8 seconds to play. On the ensuing possession, Dannel connected on a 3-pointer to cut the lead in half with 19.4 left. After St. Thomas More inbounded the ball, Touchet was swarmed by three Karr defenders and called for a traveling violation.

The inbounds play for Karr (6-7) went to guard Glenn Irons who was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and went to the line with 11.1 seconds remaining. Irons hit the first shot but missed the second before making the third. Touchet made one of two after being fouled setting up Karr with a chance to tie or win.

However, Dannel dribbled through two defenders and appeared to trip as he got into the lane. He threw up a reverse layup but the ball hit beneath the backboard with 0.4 left and St. Thomas More escaped with the victory.

The missed free throw by Irons weighed heavily on the junior’s mind after the game but he admitted that he, and the team, needed to move on from the game.

“We tried to make a run there at the end,” Irons said. “I should have made all three of the free throws and that came back to haunt us. But we just have to suck this loss up and come back out with the same intensity that we always come out with tomorrow.”

Irons and forward Chris Hunt led Karr with 15 points each, both hitting three 3-pointers. Devante “Speedy” Noil was the only other Karr player in double figures finishing with 12 points. The 6-foot Noil had six offensive rebounds including one that preceded a two-handed put-back slam late in the third quarter that brought everyone to their feet.

St. Thomas More took a 43-42 lead into the third quarter and it would have been larger if not for 5-foot-6 Karr guard Darren Hulbert’s block of St. Thomas More’s 6-foot-4 forward Charlie Padgett just before time expired.

Karr rode that momentum into the fourth quarter, as it took the lead early on a basket by Anthony Jones but Touchet answered with a 3-pointer that gave St. Thomas More a lead it didn’t surrender.

Close games haven’t been uncommon for Karr this season but the loss dropped its record in games decided by three points or less to 2-4. Howard said that while its nice to see his teams in close games, eventually things are going to have to turn around.

“It’s getting us ready for playoff and district time but sooner or later we have to come out on the winning side of these games,” Howard said. “Tonight, we didn’t make enough plays in the end. St. Thomas More kept us out of sync offensively and they made their free throws and layups on the other end of the floor.”

Touchet finished an efficient night with 34 points. He went 9-of-10 from the field and was 14-of-18 from the free-throw line. Point guard Michael Hicks finished with 14 points, four steals and three assists while guard Ryan Randle had 10 points including three 3-pointers in the first quarter.

St. Thomas More Coach Danny Broussard lauded his teams effort after trailing at halftime 29-24. He said the key to the game was how his squad played defense in the third quarter.

“We were down at halftime to a really good team,” Broussard said. “Our defense zeroed in and blocked out in that third quarter but that carried us. We had some guys step up and made some big plays for us when we needed it.”

St. Thomas More advanced to the championship game where it will play Curtis, who defeated Country Day earlier in the night. The Patriots were the team that bounced St. Thomas More from the Country Day Classic last season, albeit in the semifinals.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Touchet said. “Curtis is a real tough team but we’ll see what happens tomorrow night. Tonight we showed our character by fighting through some adversity. It was awesome.”

Karr will play Country Day in the consolation game at 6 p.m. prior to the championship game at 7:30.